Flyers paid their own special tributes at the funeral of one of Britain's youngest pilots.

An air ambulance flew above as the funeral procession brought Daniel Swaddle, 17, to St Wilfrid's Church in Blyth.

And inside the church Daniel's uncle Brian Cook, 46, also a pilot, wore his British Airways uniform and read the poem the Flyer's Prayer by Patrick J Phillips to a hushed and packed church.

Hundreds had come to bid a last farewell to the youngster who had touched the hearts of so many people with his achievements and his tragic early death from a brain tumour.

Fellow A-level students from St Benet Biscop High School, in Bedlington, were among the pallbearers who carried Daniel into the church and teachers and members of Newcastle Aero Club were among those inside.

Father Paul McCourt told them: "Just 13 weeks ago none of us would have had an inkling this day was looming."

He said the youngster's death seemed cruel and unbelievable, coming just after he had achieved everything he hoped for in flying.

"While most teenagers were hanging around doing nothing very much at all, Daniel was applying himself to flying aeroplanes."

And in a special message to his eight-year-old brother, the priest said: "Matthew, be blessed as you grow up that your brother has set such an example of how to achieve and how to be totally dedicated.

"I think he's shown you how not to waste a life and maybe we have shown today that he was bigger in the world than he could ever have imagined."

Daniel's death has stunned the North East world of aviation, coming so soon after he had obtained his dream of winning his private pilot's licence.

He had started flying gliders at 11 and by the time he was 16 he became one of the youngest people in the country to earn his wings.

He passed his pilot's exams for his full licence while a sixth-former and had won his licence by his 17th birthday on April 16.

But, tragically, on the same day came the first signs of illness when he suffered pins and needles in his right hand.

He was admitted to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary in May and an inoperable brain tumour was diagnosed. After chemotherapy treatment he came home at the beginning of this month after doctors could do nothing more.